Thursday, September 06, 2012

Ingens takeover joke could recur if authorities sit idle
Written by Ho Wah Foon of the edgemalaysia.com
Thursday, 06 September 2012 16:19

KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 6): Sean Ng of Ninetology Marketing Sdn Bhd and
Victor Chin Boon Long of INGENUITY SOLUTIONS BHD [] (Ingens) have
cracked a huge joke on the stock market — but this joke is particularly
cruel on unsuspecting investors who got burnt in the two-week saga.

Shares of Ingens, which was only 12 sen per share at the beginning of
last month, soared to over 46 sen on Aug 23, and then it fell to 23 sen
when the irresistibly-high offer at 55 sen a share was publicly rejected
by Chin on Wednesday.

This means that investors who had bought the shares as it was rising on
announced news of a takeover, or on hope of getting 55 sen a share, or
even higher if there was a mandatory general offer (MGO), would be left
high and dry and crying now.

Of course, those who had dumped Ingens shares after the
"too-good-to-believe" offer by Ninetology was announced on Aug 30 would
be laughing all the way to the bank. And who would these people be? It
must have included the "insiders" and "smart outsiders".

Indeed, from the beginning, many had already cast doubt on the takeover
bid — but since the show was allowed to go on under the bright day light
without interference and it had generated a lot of market interest, the
media had to cover and report the stories, regardless of whether they
have faith in the offerors and offerees.

For Ninetology, if they had been serious about taking over Ingens —
which has seen five years of losses — they could have mopped up Ingens
shares from the market. After all, they were prepared to pay 55 sen —
way above the 30 sen-40 sen prevailing then.

They should also have acted quickly instead of taking several days to
announce the offer price. This was all too unusual. Theoretically, it's
allowing punters to buy up the market and making it more expensive for
Ninetology to take over Ingens. Ng's action defied logic.

And to reject the offer, why did Ingens's Chin need to consider so long?
In his own words, he was not even approached by Ninetology's Ng,
although both have known each other for two years. Shouldn't he reject
the offer fast so that investors would stop harbouring the expectation
of an MGO that could send Ingens's price over 55 sen?

I spoke to a head of research Wednesday morning, and he said it's a bit unusual for Chin to reject such a fantastic offer.

Chin could have walked away with RM90 million — or a profit of RM70
million, since his average cost of buying his 29.15% stake was only 11
sen-12 sen per share.
Some senior dealers are telling me they don't understand why the
authorities are not taking action to curb such unhealthy practices and
incidents that could dent the image of the capital market.

If company owners who create misleading perceptions in the market are
not hauled up by the authorities, history will repeat itself and
investors may turn their back on Malaysia.

Recently, the government set up a special task force headed by the
Second Finance Minister to "improve the capital market". I wonder
whether this means anything to anybody?

Ho Wah Foon is the online editor for The Edge.

What a big joke isn't it?

How about Astro again?

Delisted at a price of 8.3 Billion, seeks relisting minus two huge assets at 18,7 Billion?